We Watch The Skies
by hailstorm888
Summary: When May Sapphire Winters moves to Littleroot Town in the Hoenn region, she meets the most annoying guy, Ruby Brendan Birch, but soon become more than just childish rivals. HoennShipping.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright! I'm getting a start on my HoennShipping story! Even though when I played Emerald it totally deleted my game when I was at the entrance to Victory Road. And I am so proud of it's title! What I tried to do with it is that I based this off of the Emerald game, so Team Magma and Team Aqua are all about the earth and water, but then Rayquaza comes along and yada yada it flies and I hope that explains it for you. I don't own Pokemon!**

_WE_ WATCH THE SKIES

Chapter 1: A Not So Warm Welcome

_Bang!_

"Ow!" I punched the side of the moving van for hitting a pothole and causing me to hit my head. I now regretted begging my mom to let me ride in the moving van once we had gotten off the plane. It was dark, uncomfortable, boring, and worst of all, I hadn't eaten anything in like, _five whole freakin' hours!_ My stomach grumbled for the millionth time as I leaned up against the side of the vehicle, sighing.

"This sucks." I stated to myself, before the driver promptly slammed on the brakes, causing me to fall onto the cold metal floor.

"I'm going to beat the stuffing out of that butthole..." Suddenly someone pulled up the door in the back of the van.

"Hey Sapphire honey, did you have a nice trip?" I grumbled back at her, staring at the skid marks carved into the dirt driveway.

"Where's the driver? Someone so sucky at driving deserves to be punched in the gut a few times..." Mom sighed and rubbed her hand over her forehead like she often does, pushing her bangs back that had fallen out of her light pink barrette.

"You do remember that your father was driving, right?" I thought about it for a minute. Then I stubbornly crossed my arms.

"Duh! Of course I did! And dad needs a good lesson in vehicle controlling!" Mom laughed.

"I do agree with you there, your father isn't much of a driver."

"May, Sapph, are you guys going to help the Vigoroth and I take everything into the house?"

"Sure dad!" I grabbed one measly box and went inside. Though my parents had seen the place before, I hadn't. This was our last load, most of our things and furniture were already here, shipped far over the ocean from my hometown of Olivine City.

I hadn't been very excited about moving here. Olivine was fun and lively, lots to do. But this was a small town, barely anything here. The small town was called Littleroot in the Hoenn region.

My name is May Sapphire Winters. Everyone calls me by my middle name though, or Sapph, because my mom's name is also May. My dad moved us all across the world because he got a job as a gym leader in_ Petalburg City_. The next _two_ towns over. I mean, if you're going to get a new job shouldn't you at least move into that particular city?! At least there'd be something to do! My parents kept telling me that it was healthy for me to be raised in a small town though. Whatever. I was practically already raised! Yeah I'm always being called immature, irresponsible, or childish, but I'm eleven years old already. And yet another reason why I didn't want to move here, I was supposed to get my first Pokemon a year ago, but we had to put it off because of the move.

I knew my bedroom was upstairs. There were only three rooms down the hallway. A bathroom, and two bedrooms. One was my parents, the first one, and the second was mine. Most of my boxes were already in there, a Vigoroth was putting the last of them in my room. I began opening them up, putting up posters and stuff. I quickly got bored of that though, and plopped down on my bed. I soon heard a knocking on my door and looked to see my mom standing there.

"How do you like it here?" She asked, handing me a much needed hamburger. "It has a quaint feel to it but it seems like an easy place to live, don't you think?" I shrugged my shoulders, digging into the unhealthiness that was this burger. My mom always told me that I should eat healthier, but my dad always argued back that I burned nearly every calorie with my hyperness, and that was why I'm always so hungry in the first place.

"I know you're still not too happy with us moving you here Sapphire." I still didn't answer. My mom sighed. "Don't forget to set your clock honey." She went back downstairs. I lazily got up and set my clock to 2:34, the time on both my Pokenav and iPod. The date was August 16th, we'd been moving everything all year and summer. I heard another knock at the door.

"Hey Sapph." This time it was my dad. "How's my complete funny business tough girl doin'?"

"Good."

"Hm." I know he didn't believe me. "Well, I'm taking the moving van and Pokemon to Petalburg with me. You want to have some goodbye shakes?" We always had chocolate shakes and did a personal handshake that only we knew before one of us had to leave for an extended period of time. Because dad worked all the way in Petalburg, he was going to spend the week there, then come home for the weekends.

"I'm not really hungry, but our secret handshake?"

"_Oh no!_ What have you done with Sapphire!?" My dad slung me over his shoulder, spinning me around.

"Dad, come on! Put me down!" I laughed.

"My daughter would _never_ deny a chocolate shakes!" He playfully roared at me as I continued to laugh. Finally though, he put me down.

"I suppose I could go for one right about now." Dad failed at ruffling my ridiculously unmanageable hair, only messing up my green bandana. After the shakes and handshake, my gym leader dad left for Petalburg City. It was only Tuesday, so he wouldn't be back until Saturday or Friday, depending on how busy his normal type gym was. That was basically the rest of the day. I went to sleep at only about nine, out of boredom.

Once I had eaten breakfast and gotten dressed and everything in the morning, I went back downstairs. Boxes and items with no place littered the house.

"Oh, Sapphire! Come here, quick!" My mom called me over to her spot on the couch. The TV was on the news, but I barely looked. The news is boring. "Look it's Petalburg Gym!" She pointed to the television, giddy with excitement. "Your father's about to come on!" They were broadcasting the opening of the gym. Dad was standing in front of it with a pair of scissors, ready to cut the ribbon in front of the gym. She made me watch the whole thing.

"So anyways Sapphire, one of dad's old friends lives in town. He lives right next door, so you should go introduce yourself." I absolutely hated it when my mom commanded me like that, I'd always been told I was a rebel.

"I don't feel like it." She gave me that look. That 'I'm going to make your life a living hell if you don't do what I say right now you problematic rugrat' look.

"Sapphire. Now."

"I said I didn't feel like it."

"You know your father and I have given up a lot for you Sapphire and if I were you I'd start listening for once in your life."

_"You've_ given up a lot for me?! You two forced me to move here because of dad's new job!"

"Do not talk about your father like that young lady!" That did it, we basically started screaming at each other, I couldn't even tell what I was saying. Three minutes later I had somehow gotten out of the house, trying to allow things between us to simmer down. We had been fighting a lot since I was told we would be moving. I found a little corner out of sight up against a large building, larger than any of the houses around here. It was even up against a vent releasing warm air. I just sat there for a period of time.

"What are you doing?" I sprang up, suddenly face to face with a guy my age. Face to face as in, our faces were _way_ too close. Our eyes were both wide.

"Get away from me!" I pushed his shoulder and stepped back, no longer cornered.

"Hey, this is my dad's building loser, I can be here whenever I want!" He shoved me back.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes yeah!"

"Well my dad runs the Petalburg Gym, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind coming back for a quick second to beat you down!"

"Psh, just lay all the hard work on your dad ya baby!" I clenched my fists ready to jump this guy.

His red eyes were in great contrast to my blue ones. His hat was white with a greed band around the edge of it, the front featured a Pokeball symbol. It looked like he was wearing a pair of black pants underneath a pair of black shorts. _Doofus._ Though I did like his red and black jacket... His gloves were similar to mine, with the band on the wrist but the fingers had been cut off on these ones. He also sported a green backpack, with red, green, and black shoes.

"I don't have to if you don't want, I could pound you silly on my own!"

"Oh yeah!?"

"Hell yeah!" We were progressively getting louder, and people were starting to come out of their houses, staring at us. But neither of us really cared.

"I bet you couldn't even push me to the ground stick hair." **(Yeah I know. Dumb name to call someone. Buuuut I couldn't think of a better one. If you have an idea please tell me.)**

"That's it!" I tackled the guy. No joke. Right in his gut. I literally heard the air get knocked out of him. Ah, good times, good times. We started rolling around on the ground, getting a few stray punches in here and there, but neither of us was able to land a square hit. Finally we were being pried apart.

"Sapphire! Sapphire!" Crap. It was my mom.

"Get off NOW!" An even scarier lady (if that was even possible) was holding that guy back. We just kept glaring at each other, panting. His hat had also fallen off, revealing his short black hair. I hadn't even realized my mother had been screaming at me to come with her.

"MAY SAPPHIRE WINTERS IF YOU DO NOT COME WITH ME THIS SECOND I SWEAR TO ARCEUS THAT YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE AGAIN." I didn't even reply to that.

* * *

"So that's why you call her by her middle name."

"Yes, so now may we hear about the wacky adventures of your husband?" My mom and Mrs. Birch laughed, apparently thinking that was funny. She had invited us to her house next door to ours, and each parent forced their kids to apologize. Now they were talking about stupid things while, ha, get this,_ Ruby_ and I glared at each other from across the room. His name is _Ruby._ Hilarious! Though my mom elbowed me really hard when I snickered after figuring that out.

"So anyways, Ruby, Sapphire, since you two have become friends now, why don't you head upstairs to get to know each other a little better?" We both knew that Ruby's mom wasn't asking us.

"I think that's a great idea!"

"Toby thinks too!" Ruby's younger brother, Toby added in. The motherly monsters of the deep glared deep into our souls, brainwashing us into going upstairs! So yeah, that's where we were now. Sitting on the floor of Ruby's room, which looked surprisingly like my own. Both our arms were crossed, just giving each other the evil eye.

"You know my dad told me about you guys moving in, but I was hoping that you'd be a _cool guy._"

"Don't push it _Ruby_."

"So you don't have any Pokemon yet?" _Oof._ Ah, yep that hurt, that was my soft spot. "My dad gave me one two years ago, when I turned ten."

"Congrats doofus, your daddy gave you a new pet that can't run away!" Silence for a few more minutes, before Mrs. Birch called us both downstairs.

"Ah Ruby, your father called, he wants you to head out to help him catch some Pokemon." I knew that Ruby was grinning his butt off even if I couldn't see his face at the moment.

"Sure! I'll be back later!" He was already halfway out the door when his mother stopped him.

"Wait a second son, we were thinking-" _NONONONONONO-_ was all I could think about, because even I knew what was coming next. "Sapphire doesn't have any experience like you do with Pokemon or anything, so why don't you take her with you?" Ruby and I glanced back and forth between each others and the hungry motherly monsters. We had no choice. After just a minute we were red in the faces and making our way out of the small town. A little girl was standing at the exit of Littleroot, on her tiptoes trying to see past the tree.

"Hey Allison, whatcha doin?" Ruby obviously knew the girl.

"I can hear Pokemon cries, can you go see what's going on for me Ruby?"

"Sure kid." Ruby then started walking off down the trail. I began to follow him but was stopped by a small tugging on my shirt.

"You're the girl that just moved here, right?"

"Uh, yeah! You can call me Sapphire, or Sapph for short." She smiled sweetly at me, making me jump a little.

"You seem nice! I like you!"

"Um, thanks!" I grinned back. _Having a girl like this under my wing might be nice..._

"One thing though,"

"Hm?'

_"If you don't stay away from my Ruby, I will break you like a Hariyama breaks pebbles."_ I took a few steps back, making my way after Ruby and away from his obsessive fan girl. Man I hate this town...

We were a ways onto Route 101, when we heard a grown man's blood curdling cry for help (I said sarcastically).

_"H-h-help meee!"_

"Dad!" Ruby ran off, and was quickly out of sight and into the forest.

"Uh, wait up?" I called, not really understanding what was going on. "Well, at least I'm free!" I smiled and stretched my arms up to the sky.

"AHHHHHHHH!" A slightly large man came crashing out of the forest, followed by an angry looking Pokemon. "HELP ME!" He ran straight at me, and boy did that not look like fun. I quickly stepped to the side, both of them barreling right by me. "H-HELP! THERE ARE POKEBALLS IN MY BAG!" I looked off a few feet and saw the said bag lying in the dirt. It looked like a Pokemon had really torn it up. I calmly sat down on the ground going through the contents of the bag, oblivious to the man and Pokemon. _Pencils, pens, notepads, empty Pokeballs, potions._

"Man, there is nothing interesting in here!" I complained. Then I saw some more Pokeballs, but picking two of the three up I realized that they had Pokemon in them. "Cool." I stated. I looked at the third one, lying inside of the messenger bag. I set the other two down and picked up this third Pokeball. I stared at it for a minute. "Alright! I'll help you now dude!"

"FINALLY!" I managed to step in between the big guy and Pokemon, one I had never seen before being from the Johto region.

"Go Pokemon!" I threw the small device in the air. Nothing happened. Except it hit the angry, spiky looking Pokemon on the head, angering it even more. "Uh, DEFECTIVE POKEBALL!" I began running from the Pokemon who was now intent on attacking me.

"YOU HAVE TO ENLARGE THE POKEBALL AND PRESS THE BUTTON FIRST KID!" I'm not really why we were all yelling like that, but it seemed natural at the time. Meanwhile, that Pokemon was gaining on me and jumped up almost jumping on me before I karate chopped it's head. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT NOW IT WANTS BLOOD!"

"WHAT THE HELL ELSE WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO!?" I managed to run around in a circle, still being chased by the bloodthirsty creature. I also managed to grab that Pokeball from before, and this time actually pressed the button to enlarge the capsule, and when I threw it up into the air, a little blue thing appeared in front me, stopping the spiky thing.

_"Kip kip!"_

_"Zig ga goon zig!"_

"Mudkip knows Growl and Tackle! Use those moves and beat that Zigzagoon!" The man told me.

"Only those two moves? That's really stupid." I crossed my arms and glared at the guy.

"Hey! It's still a very young Pokemon!"

"Whatever. Huh?" I looked back at the Pokemon and saw that Zigagoon or something headbutting Mudkip. "Hey!" I called out. "Mudkip, use Tackle!" The little blue guy actually listened to me, knocking Zigagoon backwards. "Alright! We're totally going to beat that Zigagoon!"

"Zigzagoon!" The man corrected me.

"Zigzagoon!" I yelled, throwing my fist up into the air. "Now Mudkip use that same move again!" He obeyed once more, but Zigzagoon dodged it and used the Tackle attack on us. "Mudkip use Tackle again!" Our attack hit, but was countered with Headbutt, doing damage to both Pokemon. Then Zigzagoon used Growl, though I completely ignored it and got in another Tackle attack. "Good job Mudkip, one more time!" We landed a final Tackle attack before Zigzagoon collapsed on the ground. I ran out to the small blue Pokemon, picking it up and spinning it around in the air. "Alright you did it buddy!" We both laughed and spun till I myself collapsed onto my knees. The Zigzagoon was gone.

"You were alright." I looked up, an innocent and slightly surprised look on my face.

"Ruby. Did you see that?"

"Most of it." His arms were crossed and if I hadn't been so dense I would've seen that he had been jealous. "But you could've done a lot less damage to Mudkip if you would've used Growl."

"It's alright son!" That man who put his arm around Ruby's shoulder was smiling greatly. "Thank you, um, what's your name?"

"May Sapphire Winters! Daughter of the great Petalburg Gym Leader!" I grinned toothily and saluted him. "But DO NOT call me May, call me Sapphire and or Sapph!"

"Oh, you're Norman's daughter!"

"Yep!"

"So you've already met Ruby?"

"Sadly, we have met." Ruby answered for me, looking away slightly annoyed.

"Well I am Ruby's father, the well known Pokemon Professor of the Hoenn region!" From the way he said that I guess he assumed that I should have known who he was. I did not. "Oh, you haven't heard of me. Well I suppose that makes sense you being not from around here. Anyways, I am Professor Birch. Thank you again Sapphire. Come meet me at my lab later on, will you?"

"Sure." I replied. He took Mudkip away, it was really sad, I mean, that guy was really cool. Ruby took me back to town, and I told my mom all about what had happened. I didn't even remember our fight and she seemed happy about it. After a large lunch and two freshly baked cookies I grabbed my own green bag, which could be interchanged as a bag just like Ruby's or be placed around my waist. I just threw it around my shoulder and headed off.

The inside of the lab was all white and clean. The usual, I guess for a lab.

"Ah, Sapphire is here!" Professor Birch greeted me. Ruby was leaning up against a table, and barely looked up at me. "You know Sapphire, I have so much about you from your father!"

"Awesome." I stated slightly bored.

"I also heard that you don't have your own Pokemon yet." That was my soft spot. Again.

"Yeah!? So!? What about it, old man!?" He looked stunned, but quickly regained his composure.

"Uh, anyways, the way you battled earlier, you pulled it off like a pro! I suppose you have your father's blood in you after all!"

"Duh! I am awesome like him, after all."

"So, as thanks for earlier, I'd like you to have that Mudkip I let you borrow earlier." My face slowly grew into that of complete hysterical excitement. And to top it all of Ruby didn't look so happy about it and Mudkip right then and there popped out of it's Pokeball right next to me.

"DID YOU HEAR THAT MUDKIP WE'RE GOING TO BE LIKE BEST BUDS FOREVER!"

_"Mud-kip!"_ Birch handed me the male Mudkip's Pokeball as the two of us danced around the lab.

"Psh, whatever. You'll never get as strong as Treecko and I." Ruby just had to put that in here. I glared at him while Mudkip looked at Ruby like he had no clue as of what Ruby had just said. And then sprayed mud all over his face.

"BEST. POKEMON._ EVER!_" I exclaimed.

"Well, uh, Mudkip learned Mud-Slap! Yay..." Professor Birch added in quietly. Ruby was pretty mad, and stepped off to the side to wipe his face off with a towel one of Birch's assistants had given him. "Anyways, I think that if you work at it and gain experience, you could become a great Pokemon trainer Sapphire. Ruby is also studying Pokemon while helping me me out. Hey, why don't you and Ruby go out tomorrow?"

"WHAT?!" We both said at the same time.

"Oh, no no no no no! Not like that, but Ruby could show you some of the ropes. Plus you'll need to get permission from your mother to leave town Sapphire." We knew we really had no choice, so we both mumbled a quick fine and I left the lab with Mudkip at me side. After we were outside in the middle of town, I realized something. Something I just had to shout out in front of the entire town of Littleroot!

"OH MY GOD, MUDKIP WE'RE GOING TO GO ON A JOURNEY TOGETHER!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Yeah... I wish that I wasn't too lazy to start my FerrisWheelShipping story... I'd like**

**to start my SequelShipping but I can't because it had a lot to do with my FerrisWheel and I'm too lazy to do it. So yeah. I don't own Pokemon! :3**

Chapter 2: A Poochy Experience!

Mom had helped me pack for leaving town the night before. The plan was to only go to Oldale Town a day or two if things went as planned, but she totally went overboard overprotective and made me pack like my whole freakin' room. But, I was excited to be able to leave town with just my Mudkip and me! And Ruby. After THE BEST BREAKFAST EVER of waffles, Cheri berries, bacon, sausage, and cinnamon rolls that even Mudkip was allowed to eat, we called my dad. He was super happy to hear that I had gotten a Pokemon! So after that I reluctantly went next door to get Ruby. His mom answered the door.

"Oh hello Sapphire! I'm so happy to hear that you've gotten a Pokemon of your own! He really is adorable!" Mrs. Birch patted the head of the Mudkip who was currently sitting atop my bandana, which was on my head.

"Morning Mrs. Birch, and thanks. So, is Ruby ready yet?"

"Ready for what?" I sighed, hating having to explain it again. It made my cheeks flush.

"He was supposed to bring me to Oldale Town for a day or two and teach me stuff." I answered, crossing my arms and looking away.

"Oh, well Ruby went to Oldale Town for a couple days earlier this morning. He didn't tell me that he was supposed to take you along with him." Mrs. Birch crossed her arms, obviously angry.

"Well don't get mad at me!" I exclaimed, wanting to stay out of trouble because of yesterday's events.

"Oh honey, I'm not angry with you." Mrs. Birch smiled and put her hand on my shoulder. "I'm just furious with Ruby and he's going to get grounded when he comes back." The way she said it was the creepiest thing because she seemed so happy and nonchalant about it. Ruby's mom is _way_ scarier than mine.

"Oh, okay... Soooo I guess I'll get going then."

"Well you have a good time Sapphire! Tell Ruby that he's in deep doo doo when he comes back!" So sweet yet so terrifying! I neglected to tell my mom about that though, she would've gotten overprotective again and not let me go. So Mudkip and I left town on our own. Oldale Town was still an hour away, so twenty minutes in I opened up the bag of barbecue chips I had brought with me and shared some of them with Mudkip who really liked sitting on top of my head, and was thankfully just as hungry as I always was. I was just rolling back up the bag and putting it back into my backpack/pack you tie around your waist when something jumped out of the freaking forest and latched onto my bag! I was lucky it didn't bite me.

"HEY!" I started turning in circles trying to hit the thing that wouldn't let go of my bag. "MUDKIP!" Mudkip repeated it's stunt of earlier using a weaker form of Mud-Slap and covering the unknown Pokemon in mud. It growled again and suddenly the strap on my bag ripped, and the Pokemon took off. It was a little black and gray dog thing. "SAVE THE FOOD!" I yelled, running after the muddy Pokemon and into the forest. "Mudkip, use Mud-Slap on the ground in front of it!" Mudkip, who was still on my head, did as I told. The thieving Pokemon slipped in the mud, turning towards us and slipping flat on it's face. "Now use Tackle!" Mudkip jumped down from my head, and rammed into the Pokemon, causing it to fly back and let go of my bag.

"Haha!" I triumphed, holding up my returned bag with the ripped strap and hole in the bottom of it.

_"Kip kip!" _Mudkip celebrated with me. The Pokemon ran off, and we spent the next ten minutes picking up dropped items that had fallen out of my bag. In order to continue holding it I had to duck tape the hole and tie it around my waist. Just as I was tightening the knot, I became curious about the Pokemon. I went back into the forest and saw it's muddy tracks just waiting to be followed into an adventure!

_"Rrrrrr!"_ I heard the growls of multiple Pokemon.

"Shh! Get down Mudkip!" I whispered to him. We crouched down and made our way behind a bush. Looking past it was a clearing, with a large pack of the Pokemon I'd seen earlier and three larger Pokemon that looked like the more evolved form. The mud covered Pokemon that had attacked us was standing apart from the rest, it's head toward the ground, dripping mud. The others were all growling at it. One of the larger one's approached it.

_"Roooowrrrr!"_ It used Howl on the smaller one, while it cowered in fear. Suddenly it chomped down on the smaller one's front left leg, roughly picking it up and throwing it across the clearing. Suddenly they all started howling, and the ashamed Pokemon ran off into the woods, limping. We turned away and started heading back to the road.

"Serves him right! Trying to steal our bag and all!" I exclaimed to Mudkip, before feeling very guilty. "But then again, those guys were his friends, and what kind of life does he have with friends like that..." Mudkip sadly nodded his head in agreement. Half an hour later we were just coming into Oldale Town.

"Holy crap..." I muttered. "This place is even smaller than Littleroot!" I suddenly yelled, startling some nearby Taillow. There were literally only two houses, plus a Pokemart, and a Pokemon Center. I asked someone who was outside of their house doing yard work if they'd seen Ruby, and when they didn't I also asked the clerk at the Pokemart who hadn't seen him and gave me a potion as a promotional item, and then Nurse Joy at the Pokemon Center.

"Ruby? Yes, he came in earlier to heal his Treecko. Do you know him?" Nurse Joy asked. She was the last person I had gone to and even healed my Pokemon for me.

"Yeah, his dad gave me a Pokemon the other day and Ruby was supposed to take me out here to learn trainer stuff."

"Oh, well he often comes out here to train on Route 103."

"Okay, well thanks Nurse Joy." She handed me Mudkip's Pokeball and I released him, Mudkip popping out of the ball and onto my head.

"No problem Sapphire! Come back anytime!" I nodded and left, heading north to Route 103. We battled a couple wild Pokemon, only one of which I knew, a Zigzagoon. We totally beat the snot out of all of them too!

"Nothing new, same old Pokemon in the same old place..." I heard someone mumble. I went around the trees and peeking out saw Ruby and his green Pokemon.

"Mudkip, we're going to sneak up on them and scare em', kay?" The water type nodded at me, and we began tip toeing up behind the duo. "BANETTE'S GONNA GET YOU!" I practically screamed the name of the popular horror movie in Ruby's ear. He barely even responded. He just looked really annoyed. Then he turned around.

"DID YOU HAVE TO SCREAM THAT IN MY EAR?!"

"Well I was _trying_ to scare you." I crossed my arms and replied.

"Whatever."

"Hey, why didn't you wait up for me earlier?"

"You made it here by yourself, didn't you?"

"Yeah I guess. Oh, and by the way your mom is pissed at you."

"WHAT!? WHY!?"

"Ha, now that scares you." I laughed.

"Duh, she'll freakin' kill me!"

"She's mad cuz you were supposed to bring me to Oldale Town and you didn't tell her."

"Man, I might as well drown myself in the river." Ruby gestured towards the river about fifty yards to my right. "Anyways, since my dad gave you that Mudkip as a gift, let me give you a taste of what a real trainer is like."

"What do you mean?" Ruby facepalmed himself.

"You seriously don't know?'

"Nope!" I said in my proudest voice, putting my arms on my hips and standing up on my tiptoes.

"I want to battle you, idiot!"

"Sure! Mudkip?"

_"Kip!"_

"You in too Treecko?" Ruby asked his small green Pokemon.

_"Tree-cko!"_ We spread out, giving the Pokemon some room to battle.

"Alright! Heads I go first, tails you get the first move Sapph." Ruby threw the coin up, catching it in his hand. Looking up he answered. "Looks like you get the first move Sapph."

"No problem! Mudkip, use Tackle!" Mudkip had been about to hit Treecko, who then easily dodged the attack, jumping above him.

"Pound!" Just as Mudkip was passing underneath the grass type, he pounded Mudkip into the ground. "Absorb!" A red beam hit Mudkip, draining his energy and returning it to Treecko.

"Come on Mudkip, you can do this!" The water type struggled a little to stand up, but did. "Alright now use Mud-Slap!" Again Treecko easily jumped over the attack again, then while in midair Ruby commanded their next attack.

"You're never going to win against me with just brute force Attack!" I smirked. As soon as Treecko hit the now mud covered ground he slipped and fell on his face.

"Kay now Tackle Mudkip!" Mudkip happily ran into the mud, slipping and sliding and gaining more momentum before hitting Treecko, hard.

"Like that's going to faze us! Treecko, get up and use Leer!" Treecko, like Mudkip had before, struggled to stand on it's two legs, but managed. After lowering Mudkip's defense, Treecko used Absorb a second time.

"Mud-Slap!"

"Dodge it and slide at Mudkip using Quick Attack!"

"Mudkip, dodge it!" Mudkip tried to slide away itself, but Quick Attack was too fast. Mudkip came flying at me, and mud covered as he was hit me right in the face, unconscious. Then I slipped on some mud, falling backwards flat on my back.

"Unhg," I picked up Mudkip from my face, holding him up above me. The poor thing could barely open up his eyes to smile at me, and looked really sad that he'd lost. "S'okay buddy." I set Mudkip down on my lap before returning him to his Pokeball and getting even more mud on myself in the process, not that I really cared. Propping myself up on one of my arms, using the other to wipe some of the mud off of my face. I saw Ruby standing above me with his arms crossed and a smirk plastered across his face, same as his Treecko.

"I win." Ruby held out his hand, offering to help me up. I stubbornly ignored it, throwing some mud at him just to prove my point. "Come on!" Ruby yelled, wiping mud off of his face and the front of his shirt. I jumped up and started running, laughing the whole way back to the Pokemon Center in Oldale Town. Nurse Joy healed our Pokemon and gave me my own room for the night since Ruby already had one, before the janitor and his Chimecho I guess it was called kicked us out of the lobby for bothering the other guests and getting mud everywhere, but despite my being with Ruby, we both had a lot of fun messing around together.

That night I had to wash both myself, and give Mudkip a bath after I had called my mom who threatened to ground me if I didn't which I didn't get because after all, it's called a _Mud-_kip. Then I tried to wash my clothes, but ended up breaking one of the washing machines, so Nurse Joy offered to do it for me and give my clothes back tomorrow. After all that plus having an eating competition with Ruby for dinner, I plopped down on the bed in my room with Mudkip, ready to sleep all night. I started petting Mudkip's little head.

"What a day, huh little buddy?"

_"Kiiiip."_ Was his sleepy reply.

"Hm." I laughed a little. "We came all the way out here to Oldale Town, all by ourselves, then lost a battle to Ruby. Can you believe it? Next time, we're going to beat them down Mudkip."

_"Mud-kip!"_

"But we did have a lot of fun, didn't we?" I sighed before turning off of my side and onto my back, putting my hands behind my head. Mudkip crawled up onto my stomach and curled up before we both drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_ Bang, bang, bang!_

"Ungh..." I refused to wake up while someone was banging on my door.

"Wake up Sapphire!" I absentmindedly threw a pillow at the door, missing horribly and knocking Mudkip off of his comfy spot on my stomach. "We have to head back to Littleroot Town and it's already twenty past ten!" Ruby continued pounding on the door. Finally I swung my legs around the side of the bed, yawning and stretching out my arms.

"C'mon Mudkip."

_"Kip kip!"_ I started really slowly getting dressed. Ruby banged on the door for the millionth time.

"SHUT UP I'M GOING!" I yelled. I walked into the bathroom to brush my hair, which was all over the place. After I was done with that I put on my green bandana, before roughly opening the door.

"Finally."

"Shut up." I went downstairs and Mudkip and I ate breakfast while Ruby glared at me the entire time for not getting up earlier. By 11:15 we were on Route 101. I was brushing my teeth while Ruby lectured me. Something about being a responsible trainer, getting up early, blah blah blah. We got back to Littleroot at about 1:30, in time for a late lunch of BLTs. Not only was I excited to go back to the lab after we were done eating, but for dad to come home tonight or tomorrow and to tell him all about Mudkip and I's adventure! By 2:45 I was entering the Pokemon Lab where Ruby and Professor Birch were already waiting for me.

"Sapphire, good to see you back safe and sound!"

"You too Professor!"

"Uh, well um, that didn't make much sense but let's continue on! I heard about your loss, but that's alright. Ruby has had Treecko for almost two years already, but he also said that for your first battle with Mudkip as your partner you two put up quite the fight!"

"Yes sir we did!" I saluted Birch, grinning. Mudkip did the same atop his favorite resting place, my head. Birch nodded.

"Ruby has been helping me with my research for quite some time already, with this device to help him." Professor Birch held up a small gadget type thing, a red one. Ruby held up his own identical red device, and I almost thought I saw him smiling. "Here Sapphire, I ordered this one for my research, but I think you should have it." He handed me the red device.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Why it's a Pokedex of course!" Birch replied. "It records data on any Pokemon you encounter!" I flicked the top open and pressed a button, and the device began to talk about Ruby's Treecko, whom I had been aiming the device at, in an electronic female voice.

_"Treecko, the Wood Gecko Pokemon. It makes its nest in a giant tree in the forest. It ferociously guards against anything nearing its territory. It is said to be the protector of the forest's trees."_

"Cool! Mudkip, your turn!" Mudkip hopped down onto the ground and I used the Pokedex on him next.

_"Mudkip, the Mud Fish Pokemon. On land, it can powerfully lift large boulders by planting its four feet and heaving. It sleeps by burying itself in soil at the water's edge."_

"Hey, you're even stronger than I thought buddy!"

_"Mud-kip!"_ I smiled at the water type Pokemon.

"I'm glad you like it Sapphire! I hope you'll never leave home without it!" Then Ruby stood up from his place leaning up against the table and walked towards me.

"Here." He held out his hand, filled with Pokeballs. Five total. "My dad's making me do this, just for the record." I attempted to grab the currently ping pong sized Pokeballs from Ruby, but ended up clumsily enlarging one of them, causing Ruby to drop all of the capsules.

"Oh, uh sorry."

"Here, let me-" We both said at the same time, while bending down to pick them up. We ended up knocking heads, literally. We both held our heads, while Treecko helped pick up the Pokeballs and Mudkip knocked around and played with the enlarged one. We finally picked up the Pokeballs and put them into my bag, still in need of a good repair.

"Well then Sapphire, I'm sure you know what all this means!"

"Yeah I do! Mudkip and me are gonna' leave this place, and he's gonna help me become the greatest trainer ever! Thanks Professor!" I suddenly ran outside with Mudkip, laughing and messing around for the next hour. I got home at about four.

"Mom, I'm-" I looked up to see none other than my father, Norman Winters standing in the kitchen with my mom. "Dad!" I ran up to him, jumping into his arms.

"Hey kid!" He spun me around in his arms. "So who's this little guy, huh?" Dad bent down to pet Mudkip.

"That's Mudkip! Professor Birch gave him to me as my starter Pokemon and he's like my new best friend!"

"That's great kiddo!"

"And guess what! Professor Birch also just gave me this!" I held up my Pokedex for both of them to see.

"Wow, you got a Pokedex too!?" Dad replied.

"Did you thank Professor Birch Sapphire?"

"Yes mom. Anyways, do you guys know what this means!?" I yelled. Mom continued chopping things up for dinner.

"What is it honey?"

"I'm going to leave on a journey!"

"Ow!" Mom suddenly cried, sticking her finger in her mouth.

"Mom!"

"It- it's alright, I just cut my finger a little bit." After cleaning it off, we continued to talk. "So you're really excited to leave home, huh Sapphire."

"Yeah! Mudkip and I are so ready for this, plus since Ruby is leaving for a journey tomorrow too, and I'll have a chance to beat him in a battle!"

"Well Sapphire, I know you're really excited to leave on your journey, but, how do I say this, you can't go."

"What? What do you mean I can't go!?"

"Sapphire calm down sweetie, you're just not ready."

"I'm eleven years old, I finally have my own Pokemon and have something to do in this place, and you tell me I can't go?!"

"Sapphire," She suddenly became dead serious. "I've made my decision and it is final. I've put up with your damn antics for long enough, and now you're going to start behaving yourself!"

"DAD!" I was almost about to cry. I looked to him for any sort of comfort or help at all.

"I'm sorry Sapphire, but if that's what your mom says-" He didn't say anything more. One tear slid down my face. I grabbed Mudkip and ran upstairs, locking my door, not even caring about dinner tonight. I dropped down onto my bed, squeezing Mudkip in my arms. Tears streamed down my face.

"Mudkip, w-what..." I bit my lip. "What are we supposed to do now?"

**Wow that was sad. And I know it's a terrible title that doesn't describe most of the chapter. Deal with it. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow, this might be one of the worst titles I've come up with yet... Eh.**

**I don't own Pokemon!**

Chapter 3: House Escape

It was Saturday night. I was in bed. Ruby had left this morning on the start of his journey. I hadn't said a word to my mother, and barely anything to my dad. Just Mudkip. The only time that I had left my room all day was to eat. I was in bed by now, my mom had just finished up with her_ 'I'm sorry you can't go but you're too childish, don't worry we still love you'_ speech. I don't know how long I waited, but by the time I stood up again, it was probably a little past midnight. I could no longer hear voices coming from downstairs, or from in my parents room. I had already gotten everything ready, and grabbed my clothes, money, Pokenav, iPod, Pokedex, the Pokeballs Ruby had given me, and everything else I needed. I tied my still ripped bag around my waist before very cautiously and quietly opening my door.

"C'mon Mudkip." He nodded and followed me downstairs. While my mom and dad were asleep, I loaded up on pretty much every food item I could get my hands on, until my bag just couldn't hold anything more. I headed back up the stairs to check my room and make sure I had everything I needed. I unlatched my window, before smoothly sliding it up. I looked down at the ground, about ten feet after climbing to the lowest point on the roof. I looked back into my room, knowing that, at least for the time being, I would be leaving this behind.

"Hm. It doesn't actually matter." I closed my eyes and turned my head. "This isn't my home. It never was." I stepped out and onto the roof, leaving the window open for Mudkip to follow. I heard thunder off in the distance, clouds threatening to cover up the shining stars and crescent moon. I walked down to where the lowest point in the roof was, before jumping down and landing on my feet. I looked back up to where Mudkip was waiting, watching me.

"Here boy, come on Mudkip!" I softly said to him, holding my arms out towards the water type. He still wavered though. "Come on Mudkip, it isn't that far, besides, I'll catch you." I held out my arms again, and Mudkip nodded before shaking his little butt getting ready to jump. He then flew through the air, straight into my arms. "Gotcha'." I set him atop my head and made my way onto Route 101, turning on my flashlight as soon as I knew no one from town could see it.

My plan was to get as far away as I possibly could from home, as fast as I could. I went through Oldale Town as fast as possible, not stopping for anything. I quickly made my way onto Route 102, knowing that it would take about a day and a half, shorter if I didn't stop, to traverse this route. At about four in the morning, I checked my Pokenav. I wasn't very far through the route, but I figured that I was far enough to set up camp and get some sleep. I hadn't gotten much in the past two nights, and I didn't need a mirror to know that there were dark circles under my eyes. I set up my tent, knowing that it'd probably begin to rain during the night. By the time I fell asleep, I could smell rain.

* * *

I shifted in my sleeping bag, inside of my tent. My brain was still fuzzy, it was early in the morning. I grumbled, not being able to get comfortable, then I shifted again onto my stomach, extending my right arm away from my body.

_Sploosh._ I immediately sat upright, I had just sat my arm inside of a huge puddle of water.

"Crap." It had started pouring a while ago, and apparently some of it had seeped into my tent. My sleeping bag was wet, my bag was soaked, I myself was lucky to get away just a wet arm, but not for long. It was still raining.

I had never bothered changing last night, so I was still wearing my clothes. I left the tent after checking the time (about 7:30 in the morning) and began simultaneously packing up my tent and brushing my teeth. I wouldn't be doing _that_ again (by the way, my tent _might_ have a few minty smelling stains on it). Everything was packed up, I was soaking wet, but ready to leave.

"Wait a minute... Something's missing..." I stopped and looked suspiciously at the surrounding area. I shrugged my shoulders, not seeing anything. "I guess not..." Just then a Pokeball fell out of my pocket, _Mudkip's_ Pokeball. "MUDKIP!" I immediately yelled, looking around frantically (though I usually do act pretty frantic). I remembered passing a pond last night, it was possible that he was there. I began running towards where it was. _Crap, they're going to be looking for me soon, we need to get out of here now._ I finally came to the pond, and immediately spotted Mudkip swimming around and sliding down a mud covered hill.

"MUDKIP!" I yelled. He looked up and smiled, paddling over to me then bounding up the muddy ground.

_"Kip kip!"_ I sighed, then bent down to pet his head.

"What am I supposed to do with you?" I smiled at him, before hearing the most _blood curdling_ howl I've heard in my entire life. The two of us looked into the pond, and saw a small Pokemon struggling in the water. It was reflexes, really. I didn't even need to think about it, I just dove into the surprisingly deep water, swimming towards the Pokemon. Suddenly the Pokemon went underwater, so I did too, my bandana slipping off in the process. It was oddly calm under the surface, the pitter patter of the rain above us was the only thing I really heard. Finally, I was able to grab under the four legged Pokemon's two front legs, holding it to my shoulder like a baby and swimming towards the surface as fast as I could. Mudkip was next to me before I even broke the surface. I dragged the small black Pokemon up the bank.

"Is it okay?" I asked Mudkip, putting my head to it's mouth to see if it was breathing or not. That's when it jumped up, nearly biting my head off, and backed away growling and snarling! Okay, maybe I exaggerated that a _little,_ but that Pokemon was _not_ in the mood for a cuddle. "Wait a minute... You're the Pokemon that tried to steal my bag!" At first I stood up, pointing a finger at the guilty party, but quickly remembered that us taking my bag back got this little guy kicked out of his pack. It snarled even more, and looked too skinny for it's own good. I remembered that my Pokedex could tell me what kind of Pokemon this was, so I took it out of my soaking wet bag (thank _Arceus_ my mom had gotten me the forty dollar super water proof one).

_"Poochyena, the bite Pokemon. It savagely threatens foes with bared fangs. It chases after fleeing targets tenaciously. It turns tail and runs, however, if the foe strikes back."_ I dug through my bag, taking out a hot dog in a plastic bag (hey, I did say that I grabbed whatever would fit in my bag. I'm not even sure why I packed it, I seriously doubt I would've eaten it). I threw the hot dog on the ground in front of Poochyena, who the Pokedex also told me was actually a female. The Pokemon only growled at it.

"I'm sorry about what happened with your friends, but you can make new friends you know! Like Mudkip and I, but if you don't want to, you can still have the hot dog." She still refused to even touch it. That was when I noticed it's leg, badly hurt. "You're hurt." I reached my hand out towards Poochyena, who then ran off into the woods. "Hm." I stood up, sad. Mudkip came up to me with my bandana atop the blue fin on his head. I smiled sadly, taking my bandana and retying it around my head. We continued along Route 102, the rain never letting up. We battled one girl who thought the rain was '_totally gross and disgusting!'_ and easily won. A guy had just asked to battle me, two on one, I accepted. I was currently battling his Zigzagoon, which I had gotten the Pokedex entry on. '

"Zigzagoon, Tackle!"

"Mud-Slap!" Mud-Slap hit Zigzagoon before it could even get close to Mudkip, knocking it out. "Ha! I told you I could beat you with just one Pokemon!" He returned his Zigzagoon.

"Not so fast, I still have my best team member! Taillow!" I quickly got my Pokedex out.

_"Taillow, the tiny swallow Pokemon. Although it is small, it is very courageous. It will take on a larger Skarmory on an equal footing. However, its will weakens if it becomes hungry."_

"Alright. Mudkip, use Mud-Slap!" Taillow easily dodged the attack.

"Man you're stupid!"

"What?!"

"Ground type moves don't even affect flying types!" I grew a little red in the face.

"Uh, well, _du-uh_! Of course I knew that!"

"Quick Attack!" Mudkip was hit almost instantly.

"Use Growl Mudkip!"

"You too Taillow!" Both Pokemon's attack stats were lowered.

"Tackle Mudkip!"

"Quick Attack!" Taillow easily flew above Mudkip, attacking him from above.

"Mudkip!" He shakily got to his feet. I knew we needed another way to attack, our only move that would do damage to Taillow would be dodged every time. "Hang in there buddy, just, um..."

"Peck!"

"Use Mud-Slap on the ground to slide away!" Mudkip barely got away from the flying type. He continued to avoid Taillow using the mud covered ground. _Think think think think THINK!_ I was holding my bandana, desperately trying to think of something to do. Mudkip couldn't slide away forever.

"Taillow, use Focus Energy before Quick Attack!" _Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap!_

"Uh," The outline of Taillow was glowing blue, it was gaining energy. I knew that we wouldn't be able to dodge the next attack. "Um,"

"Now Taillow!"

_"MudkipIwantyoutouseWaterGun!"_ I yelled as fast as humanly possible. To my surprise, it actually worked! Water Gun hit Taillow, hard, but the flying and normal type couldn't stop, so Taillow also still hit Mudkip. Both Pokemon were unconscious.

"Wow, you're not bad!" The guy said to me.

"You put up a good fight too." We shook hands, and he gave me a potion as a parting gift. We agreed to battle again someday.

It was still raining, though not as hard as it was earlier. We stopped for lunch, then continued walking until it was dark out. We really had no place to sleep. My tent was still soaked, so we wandered off of the trail and into the woods to find shelter for the night. Eventually we stumbled across a dry little grotto, and fell asleep there for the night.

* * *

Morning. Again we went through the normal morning routine. I had set out my wet clothes, tent, sleeping bag, and bag. Most of them were dry, so I packed everything up, Mudkip and I ate breakfast, and we headed off. Thankfully it wasn't raining today, just gloomy and cloudy. I had been just about to leave the woods and come back to the trail, but quickly stopped. Voices. I took Mudkip into my arms, preventing him from making any noises. I peeked around the tree. My dad was there. He was talking with some men. I listened to their voices, hoping to make out what they were saying.

"I suppose I should just head back to Petalburg for now, Sapphire is a smart girl when it comes to the outdoors, and she has Pokemon alongside her now. I know she'll be fine." The men said their goodbyes, my dad headed in the direction that I was, the other men went the opposite way. It had been a search party. For me. My mom must have been really scared. I mean, my dad was supposed to be back at Petalburg, but instead he was here searching for me. Definitely mom's doing.

I decided to hang low for the day. Mudkip and I trained against wild Pokemon all day, not leaving the woods. We spent the night in the grotto again, it never rained again. The next morning, we woke up kind of late, about forty five past nine. After getting ready, we left the grotto for good. Looking up through the trees, I saw sunlight.

"It looks like the sky's cleared up finally!" Mudkip and I grinned at each other. We walked all day, battling one more trainer and winning. Finally, at about four in the afternoon. We arrived at Petalburg City.

"Wow, it's great! Way better than Littleroot!" It wasn't nearly as big as Olivine was, but it was way more interesting than Littleroot Town. There were a lot of people, and it seemed like a nice enough city. The only thing I had to do was avoid the gym altogether, which I _really_ didn't want to do, especially because if I managed to beat my dad, then he and my mom would probably let me continue on my journey. I stopped at the Pokemon Center, trying to keep from letting Nurse Joy know who I was, not even bothering to get a room in favor of sleeping in the woods. I didn't bother going to the Pokemart in fear of them finding out who I was. I was walking through the city, when suddenly a woman came ran up to me, appearing frantic.

"Hello there, have you seen my Wally? He's this tall, and, and weighs about eighty pounds-"

"Uh, no no! Haven't seen no Wally!" I waved my hands back and forth, worried that she'd recognize me. Stupid thought. It's not like I'm an actual celebrity.

"Please miss, we're moving to Verdanturf Town in a couple hours, and I can't find him anywhere!" _I feel ya kid._ I knew what it was like to have to move away from home. He was probably hiding somewhere, same thing I was doing before we left Olivine.

"Alright, what does he look like?"

"Well, he's about eighty pounds, a little shorter than you, he has chartreuse colored hair-"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. He has charred cheese colored hair?" The woman face palmed herself.

"Let's just say its green and his eyes are a light blue color."

"Alright, if I find him I'll take him back to you."

"Thank you so much, we live right over there." The woman pointed to her house, then left.

_"Kiiip?"_

"Come on Mudkip." We continued on through the city.

"Dude, what's up with you? You're not yourself today." I overheard a guy say to his friend.

"I challenged Norman today," I stopped in my tracks. I had to hear what he said. "but man, he was _way_ too strong. I couldn't even defeat one of his Pokemon!" I kept moving. There were quite a few ponds in town, behind one of them was an abandoned nature trail, so I decided to follow it and see if I could find a place to stay for the night. It was a quiet, relaxing place. It went around the largest pond in town, running right next to the edge of it, this area out of site of the city. I wasn't paying any attention to what was ahead of me at the moment. Neither was Mudkip. We could only watch our perfect reflections in the water. Suddenly there was another face in the water. We both instantly looked up at the other, a boy sitting on a rock. He had hair a funny greenish color, and ice blue eyes that clashed with it.

"Are you Wally?" His eyes were wide. He looked about nine or ten, and small, frail.

"Uh, wh-who are you?" I grinned.

"I'm May Sapphire Winters, daughter of the great Norman Winters, Gym Leader of Petalburg City, and soon to be strongest trainer in Hoenn, and then, the world!" I pointed at myself, then Mudkip. "And this is my friend Mudkip, he's going to help me out on my journey!" The kid just stared at me, looking shocked. "So, you are Wally, right?"

"Yeah. I'm guessing my mom asked you to help look for me?" I nodded my head. Wally rested his head on his knees, staring at his reflection. He looked kinda' sad.

"Don't worry kid." I patted his back. He looked up at me. "I know what moving feels like. I used to live all the way in the Johto region, in a _huge_ city! Now though, I live in Littleroot Town. It was hard, and still is, but Mudkip is here so I'll be alright!" Wally continued to stare at me. "Well, see ya." I walked off into the woods, the Wally kid not saying anything else to me.

I found a place to stay for the night, safe and sound in the woods. I couldn't fall asleep that night though. All I could think about, was challenging my dad. Proving to _everybody_ that I _was_ mature enough to do this. Unfortunately, the stubborn side of me would take over tomorrow, possibly destroying my only chance of going on this journey.

**This chapter is a little short, so sorry about that. But anyways, I just started a new story about people who are Pokemon! I've seen these pictures of Pokemon People (just look that up on Google images and you can find them) and I searched Pokemon People on Fanfiction, but can you believe it?! Nothing came up! So I decided to start a story on them, multiple ones eventually, all different. My first one is called The Fire And The Fight! I'm also just starting my FerrisWheelShipping story, and I need ideas for names for it. Anybody? So I hope you check them out! Review please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**First off I am SOOO sorry about not updating for so long, but I've started to write an actual book! Anyways, thanks ****storyLover58 for your awesome review. I'm starting another fanfiction that's placed in the Kanto region, so check it out! I don't' own Pokemon!**

Chapter 4: To Catch A Ralts

_Wednesday, August 23_

My morning check list so far! Go to Pokemon Center acting really paranoid! Check! Go to Poke Mart and making the owners think I was going to steal something! Check! March stupidly towards my dad's Gym! Currently in progress. I just couldn't resist challenging him.

I threw open the doors, ignoring the guy standing there. I think he's there to give advice? I don't know, and honestly, I didn't care. There weren't any trainers to battle there, being that the whole place was still under construction. I made my way straight to dad, who looked up, not nearly as shocked as I thought he'd be.

"Sapphire! What are you doing here?"

"I'm proving to everyone that I can do this! Dad, I challenge you to a battle!" I said it in the most superhero-y way that I could. For a moment, my dad did nothing. Then, he started laughing. Like, really, really hard.

"W-what?! You don't think I can beat you!?"

"Hahaha, n-not a chance Sapphire!" I was pretty much furious. I went on anyways.

"Rrrrr, whatever! Mudkip, I choose you!" I expertly threw up his Pokeball, the small water type appearing before me, raring to go. My dad frowned.

"I'm not going to battle you Sapphire."

"I'm not leaving until I prove to everyone what I can do!" My father walked towards me, past Mudkip, and put his hands on my shoulders. I only looked at the ground.

"Sapphire, the fact that you made it this far on your own proves everything already." I looked back up, my face filled with hope.

"Really?"

"Of course kiddo! Let's say I call your mother and we have a little talk, alright?" I grinned, nodding vigorously. Dad eventually talked mom into letting me go, though she was still very upset with me running away from home and I got a stern yelling to. My dad had been walking me out of the Gym when that kid from earlier came through the doors.

"Wally?" I said.

"You two know each other?" My dad asked.

"Uh, yeah, sort of."

"Um... sir?"

"Yes?"

"I... I'd like to get a Pokemon... please..." The green haired boy mumbled. My dad and I looked at each other for a second.

"Well, I don't see why not!" He smiled.

"I'm going to stay with my relatives in Verdanturf Town, and I think I'd be lonely by myself, so I wanted to take a Pokemon along. Thing is, I.. I don't know how to catch one..."

"I see..." Dad replied, looking thoughtful. "You hearing this Sapph?"

"Yeah." I replied, Mudkip nodding from on my head.

"Why don't you go with Wally and make sure that he safely catches a Pokemon?"

"Sure! I'd be cool to help the next generation of awesome Pokemon trainers! I'm going to be your new idol, right kid?" I whispered the last part to Wally, who quickly nodded, looking happy as ever. I grinned right back at him.

"Here Wally, I'll lend you one of my Zigzagoon."

"Oh cool!" He looked entranced by that Pokeball, it was cute how such a fragile looking kid could be so happy with something as simple as a Pokeball.

"Here's an empty Pokeball as well. Now you two have fun!"

"Wow, thanks Norman sir!" Wally and I walked out of the Gym together. "You're the nicest person ever Sapphire, thank you so much for coming with me!"

"I hate to brag, but I _am _pretty awesome!" I replied, a smug look on my face. I walked Wally to Route 102, and we began intensely searching for any signs of life. Finally we came upon a Pokemon I'd never seen before.

"Alright Wally, on the count of three, we jump out of the bushes and you release the Pokemon my dad gave to you." I whispered. "One, two, THREE!" We jumped out, the Pokemon looked up, surprised.

"Zigzagoon, use Tail Whip!"

"That's it Wally, keep going!" While they all battled, I got Pokedex entries on both Pokemon.

"_Zigzagoon, the tiny raccoon Pokemon. Rubbing its nose against the ground, it always wanders about back and forth in search of something. It is distinguished by the zigzag footprints it leaves. _

_Ralts, the feeling Pokemon. A Ralts has the power to sense the emotions of people and Pokémon with the horns on its head. It takes cover if it senses any hostility." _

"Now use Tackle!" The battle was going well, and Ralts was looking more and more ready to be caught.

"Great, now throw the Pokeball Wally!"

"Okay, go Pokeball!" The device sucked in the Psychic type Pokemon, and began blinking. I looked at Wally, with his fingers crossed, staring at the Pokeball. Finally, it clicked shut.

"Oh yeah! Great job Wally!"

"I.. I can't believe I did it... I, I actually caught a Pokemon!" He jumped for joy, running over to his newly caught Pokemon, releasing it instantly.

"_Ralts?" _The small Pokemon's high pitched cry sounded confused. Wally bent down to it's level.

"Hi there Ralts! My name is Wally, I'm sorry to have scared you like that, but I wanted to have a friend with me for when I move." Wally held out a hand to the female Pokemon. It was a moment before she responded, but to my surprise they shook hands. The two laughed together while I felt overwhelmingly proud of Wally.

"Well, now that you two are on good terms, we should probably head back to Petalburg."

"That's Sapphire, she's the one who helped me come out here and meet you." I smiled at her, and Ralts smiled back. Then we went back to the Gym.

"Thank you so much for letting me borrow your Zigzagoon sir!" Ralts was being held in one of Wally's arms while he returned the normal type back to my father.

"Of course Wally!"

"Thank you, both of you. I couldn't have done this without your help."

"No problemo kid!"

"It's a Gym Leader's job, kiddo."

"Well, my moms waiting for me. Bye." Wally ran to the doors before turning around. "I promise I'll take really good care of Ralts! I'll never forget today either!"

"See you around Wally!" I called after him. My father spoke again after he was gone.

"You really are ready for this Sapphire, making new friends like Wally already."

"Thanks dad."

"Alrighty then, you ready to become a great trainer like your father?"

"Of course!"

"Then head towards Rustboro City beyond here. Then, you should challenge the Gym Leader there, Roxanne. And some day, you'll come here to battle me for my Gym Badge! But you'll have to become stronger first Sapphire."

"Don't worry dad, that day will come before you know it!"

"I'm sure it will." We said our goodbyes, and I left for Route 104 after goodbye shakes and lunch with my dad. Just as I was leaving the city, a man stopped me.

"Excuse me!" I turned around, Mudkip losing his balance for a moment on my bandana.

"Yeah?"

"From the way you're dressed, I'm guessing you're a Pokemon trainer?" I opened my mouth to speak, but was cut off. "Well, maybe. You seem too immature... You're either a rookie trainer or just an ordinary kid."

"Uh, hello?" I pointed to the Pokemon on top of my head.

"_Kip kip!" _

"I am roaming the land in search of talented trainers." _Talk about stupid, annoying idiot. _I thought. "I'm sorry to have taken your time." He brushed past me, leaving the city.

"Uh, I am a talented trainer moron! You'll be sorry when I become Champion and I have you executed!" I yelled after him, but I don't think he heard me. I puffed out some air, before continuing in the same direction.

"Come on Mudkip." The path had two ways to go, down by the beach and above it in the grass. It would take a day just to get to Petalburg Woods, so I decided to stick around here for a couple days and train on both sides. First, I headed down the stone carved steps to the beach. I saw a young kid running barefoot in the sand, then observing the prints he left.

"Hey!" I called him over, and he ran towards me. "You a Pokemon Trainer?"

"Sure am! You want to battle!"

"Heck yeah!" I replied, Mudkip and I grinning.

"Alright, two on two?"

"How about one on two!" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"I guess. Kay, go Taillow!"

"Mudkip!" He jumped down, ready to battle. "Use Water Gun!" I knew from a previous experience that ground type moves would not work on Taillow.

"Dodge it and use Quick Attack!" Mudkip got hit with the attack.

"Water Gun!" With Taillow so close by, there was no time for it to dodge our attack.

"Growl Taillow!"

"Same!" Both Pokemon's attacks were lowered.

"Now use Focus Energy!"

"Water Gun!" Taillow was unable to complete Focus Energy, knocked down by Water Gun.

"Peck!"

"Dodge it and use Tackle!" After getting hit with Tackle, Taillow became unconscious, leaving its imprint on the sand.

"You did great Taillow. Now go, Seedot!" To be honest, I thought Seedot looked kinda dumb, but I'd never seen this Pokemon before so I got the Pokedex entry on it.

"_Seedot, the acorn Pokemon. It hangs off branches and absorbs nutrients. When it finishes eating, its body becomes so heavy that it drops to the ground with a thump." _I stuck the device back into my still ruined backpack, with the duck taped bottom and ripped strap, tied into a knot.

"Mud-Slap Mudkip!"

"Use Harden!" The attack did almost nothing, Seedot having raised it's attack. "Seedot, Bide!" Seedot, curled up and looked like it was waiting for us to attack.

"You want us to attack? Fine then, use Mud-Slap again!" The attack hit, but then a muddy brown light appeared around Seedot, until a huge beam of brown came streaking at Mudkip!"

"Mudkip!" I yelled, seeing my now unconscious Pokemon on the ground.

"Bide takes your opponent's move and fires it back twice as strong! You battled pretty well, though."

"Thanks." I mumbled, picking up Mudkip and heading north. After Mudkip regained himself, we battled a fisherman and won. It had been getting dark out when I saw a large house. I walked up to the mailbox.

"I guess a guy named Mr. Briney lives here. Maybe he'll let us spend the night."

"_Mud kip!" _I banged on the door a couple times. Nothing. Again, I banged on the door.

"Hellooo? Mr. Briney? Can I sleep in your house tonight?" I called out, cupping my ear to hear for an answer. I still heard nothing. I looked at Mudkip. "Well, he didn't say no." I opened the door, which was unlocked, and took a step inside. "It's dark..." I mumbled, fumbling around looking for a light switch. I eventually found it, and upon turning the lights on I got my first view of the seemingly empty house.

There was no TV to my dismay, or even a microwave. It was pretty old fashioned, a small bar the only thing separating the kitchen from the living room. The house was small, the only other rooms in the house was an unoccupied bedroom that smelled like old man, and a bathroom. I made Mudkip and I dinner, a pizza sandwich for me and Poke Food for him, and then we fell asleep on the couch.

In the morning I took a quick shower and cleaned up the bit of a mess I made, before leaving to train on the other side of the route. There were a lot of wild Pokemon around, but I didn't see any trainers, until I ran into the most arrogant, ridiculous, and self centered guy. And no, it wasn't Ruby. It was some annoying rich kid named Winston who I refused to battle in fear of being sued, and of being infected by his annoyingness.

"Please ma'am, you _must _allow me to battle with you! How could anyone _not _want to participate in a battle with someone as beautiful as you?" I looked back at him narrowing my eyes.

"For the millionth time _Winston,_ I am not getting sued for beating you."

"But ma'am-"

"NO!" Little rich boy jumped in front of me, crouching down on one knee and taking one of my hands in one of his.

"If that is what you wish ma'am. But, before we depart, may I at least know your name?" He bent down and kissed my hand, looking up through his blonde hair his eyes might've seen charismatic to some girls, but not to this one. Suddenly a light bulb went off in my mind.

"I have an idea!" I stated bluntly.

"Yes ma'am?"

"How 'bout we have a battle? If I win, you leave me alone, and can't sue me, if you win, you get to know my name have make me dinner or something."

"I-I accept!" Winston quickly agreed. Actually, it was a win-win sort of situation. If I win, I get left alone. If I lose, I get free dinner that I don't have to make!

"As a gentlemen, I must allow the lady to choose the rules of our battle and make the first move." He said, bowing. From my position on our makeshift battlefield, I yelled back, Mudkip already out in front of me.

"One on one battle, no items or anything like that! And go!"

"Spheal, I'm counting on you!" A small blue ball looking thing was his Pokemon I guess. I quickly grabbed my Pokedex to find out more about it.

"_Spheal, the clap Pokemon. It is completely covered with plush fur. As a result, it never feels the cold even when it is rolling about on ice floes or diving in the sea." _

"Kay so ground and water type moves won't work so well..." I mumbled to myself, trying without much success to think up a strategy. And I decided that doing what I do best would be much easier. I decided to wing it. "Mudkip, use Tackle!"

"Dodge Spheal!" Spheal couldn't roll away fast enough and ended up getting hit. "Powder Snow!" A small blizzard of blue snow came at Mudkip, causing him to shudder with the cold.

"Mud-Slap Mudkip!"

"Defense Curl!" Mud-Slap did even less damage than usual after Spheal used the defense raising move.

"Tackle again!"

"Dodge it and use Water Gun!"

"You too Mudkip!" The water type attacks canceled each other out.

"Yawn Spheal!" As the water and ice type yawned this huge bubble came out of it's mouth and hit Mudkip right in the face. It was easy to tell immediately what it was going to do. Mudkip was getting sleepy fast.

"Mudkip, Mud-Slap!"

"Didn't you already try that?" Winston asked, notes of sarcasm escaping his lips. "Defense Curl again!" I smirked, as did my little buddy, even if it was more of a sleepy, lopsided one.

"That wasn't the point _Winston!_ Mudkip!"

"_Kip!" _He understood exactly what I was getting at and began to slide around on the now mud covered ground. The look on Winston's face was priceless. He looked absolutely disgusted, whereas a mud bath was sounding pretty good to me at the moment.

"What, you don't have some richy idea to counter me Winston?!"

"I _refuse_ to have my precious Spheal dirty himself like that!"

"Suit yourself. Mudkip, tackle!" Like before, sliding on the mud added force to Tackle, and Spheal got knocked out.

"Spheal!"

"Haha! Good job Mudkip, you're the _best! _So anyways, I suppose you'll be leaving us alone then, huh Winston!" I grinned at him, a kind of sarcastic grin.

"Hm!" Winston did a rich kid sound, returned Spheal to it's Pokeball and walked off. I ran through the mud, slipping and sliding towards Mudkip, who was lying on the ground.

"Mudkip buddy, time to go." I nudged him with my hand, but all I got in return was a snore. I laughed a little, Yawn had taken it's toll. "What am I going to do with you?" I asked in a friendly way, hoisting the small Pokemon into my arms, even if he was covered in a healthy coating of mud.

_Thursday, August 24_

**Man I took way too long to write this, but at least it's finished! Anyways, Pokemon X and Y is finally out! I can't wait to get it, but I'm annoyed that it's not available on a regular DS, so I'm basically being forced to by a more than one hundred dollar DS for a forty dollar game. But my brother says it's worth it so I better start saving! Read and review you guys!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own Pokemon!**

Chapter 5: Petalburg Woods

_Saturday, August 25_

Route 104 is way too long in my opinion. And then the universe makes it worse by putting a giant forest right after it. Plus, I hadn't bought enough supplies and was running low on everything except food. Most of my money goes towards food, which is of course the most important supply by far.

"Crap." I mumbled when I realized that we were completely out of antidotes. "Better hope no one gets poisoned and dies when we go through the woods." I said aloud to Mudkip who carelessly nodded, busy curiously chewing on a rock he'd found. "Alright!" I yelled, standing. "Time to get through Petalburg Woods!" Making our way into the wooded area, we promptly avoided a trainer with way too many Wurmple. Both because he was a weirdo and we didn't want to get poisoned. Then we came across an about thirty year old man, kinda' creepy if you ask me.

"Hmm... Still not one to be found..." He approached me, brownish red hair cut in a very nerdy way. "Sorry to bother you, but have you seen any Pokemon called Shroomish around here?" I'm sorry to say but I struggled to keep from laughing. I mean, Shroomish? Really? Some Pokemon have weird names... "I really love those Shroomish!" I raised an eyebrow at his sudden dreamy eyes.

"Um-" I'd been about to say no, when a freakin' _pirate_ came up to us.

"I was going to ambush you old man, but you _had_ to dawdle in Petalburg Woods forever, didn't you? I'm sick of waiting!" He ran over, shoving Shroomish guy, who backed up forcefully into me. "Now hand me those papers Devon nerd!" He shoved again, and this time when Shroomish guy bumped into me I fell onto the ground.

"Dude!" I yelled.

"Stay out of this and I might let you go without a scratch on you kid." He replied, holding Shroomish guy up by the collar. If I had sleeves, I would've rolled them up in preparation for punching this guy. Which I did. I walked up right beside him and socked him in the jaw. Not super hard, but it wasn't like a flick either. Shroomish guy ran behind a tree screaming while pirate dude rubbed his jaw.

"You little..."

"'You little' what? Don't leave me hangin' dude!" I smirked, happy with my sarcastic insult.

"You know what, forget mercy! No one crosses Team Aqua and gets away with it, not even a kid! _Especially_ one who punches me!" He had grabbed a Pokeball and enlarged it. _Team Aqua?_ I thought. I guess it made sense what with the blue pirate get up, but it was just plain strange.

"You wanna' fight? Fine! Mudkip!"

_"Mud!_" Mudkip, already full of fight, jumped off of my head into a battle stance.

"Poochyena!" He called forth his own Pokemon, the dark type known as Poochyena. It instantly brought back memories of the Poochyena whose life I basically ruined, but I had to beat this douche, so I couldn't let it hold me back.

"Water Gun!"

"Sand Attack!" Before Mudkip could get a drop of drool out of his mouth, he got a face full of dirt. "Bite!" Poochyena then got a mouth full of Mudkip, throwing him towards me.

"Come on Mudkip, you can do this!" The water type stood up, slightly shaken but no where near quitting, probably even more determined to win than before.

"Tackle Poochyena!"

"Mud-Slap!" This attack worked in three successful ways. One, it did damage, duh. Two, it caused Poochyena to just slide right on by Mudkip. And three, the dark type looked hilarious covered in a healthy coating of mud. Poochyena stood back up growling.

"Come on, pull it together! Howl!" Poochyena howled of course, raising it's attack. I used this to my advantage and got in another attack.

"Tackle Mudkip!"

"Bite!" Both of our attacks succeeded, and after Bite Mudkip was once again thrown backwards, this time landing on his feet.

"Tackle!"

"Dodge it and use Water Gun!" Mudkip did a super awesome jump, and in mid-air he totally sprayed Poochyena right in the back, forcing it into the ground. Pirate dude and his Poochyena never stood a chance.

"Return you useless mutt!"

"Hey man, no need to take it out on your Pokemon." I told him frowning. It might be a pirate's Pokemon, but that doesn't mean Poochyena is any less deserving of a 'good job' than Mudkip is.

"Shut up kid! I can't believe such a kid can be so tough." Pirate dude tried to say to himself, but ended up being louder than he tried to be. No need to be embarrassed about that though, I have a loud talking/obnoxious problem too.

"Thanks!" I called out to him.

"Grr, you've got some nerve kid, messin' with Team Aqua! I would take you on myself, but I've got business to attend to in Rustboro."

"You know I'm not that much of a kid!" I called after pirate dude as he speed walked away. He shot me a quick glare when I said that, but hey, he really was emphasizing the kid thing.

"Whew!" I turned around and saw Shroomish guy coming out from his hiding place. I was surprised he hadn't run off during the battle. "Thanks! Because of you he wasn't able to take these papers from Devon."

"Hey, isn't Devon that huge Pokeball company here in Hoenn?"

"It is, and they're not just about Pokeballs. I work there, and these papers are very important and valuable!" I bent down and allowed Mudkip to jump back onto the top of my green bandana.

"Maybe you shouldn't shout about those papers being so valuable and important like that." He rubbed his back.

"Right, right! Anyways, have this!" I took the strange looking blue Pokeball from the man. "It's a Great Ball! Just like a Pokeball, except even better at catching Pokemon!"

"Cool." I replied, stuffing it into my bag.

"Now I must be going, what that guy said about having 'business' in Rustboro, it's making me nervous. Good-bye!" I lifted a hand, a gesture meaning bye in cool people language, and then the man left.

"Weirdos." I mumbled after he was out of hearing range.

_"Kip kip."_ Mudkip agreed.

"Nincada, use Scratch!"

"Dodge it and use Water Gun!" Ten minutes later, Mudkip and I were locked in yet another battle, this time with a bug catcher and his Nincada of whom I'd gotten the Pokedex entry on.

"Harden!"

"Tackle!" I'd found out earlier that Nincada was not just a bug type (obviously), but also a ground type, so Mud-Slap was pointless to use.

"Leech Life!"

"Water Gun again!" Nincada fainted, and the bug-catcher gave me some prize money before I continued on. Then something even weirder than meeting a pirate in the middle of the woods happened. There was some kind of clawed, weird looking monkey Pokemon in the middle of the trail, crawling like .3 miles per hour. I bent down and looked at it more closely, and it barely even noticed.

"Is it okay Mudkip?" I could feel him shrug on top of my head, so to find out the answer I did the next best thing. I got out my handy dandy Pokedex!

"Slakoth, the slacker Pokemon." I scoffed at this. _No dip._ _"It sleeps virtually all day and night long. It doesn't change it's nest it's entire life, but Slakoth sometimes travel great distances by swimming in rivers."_

"I guess it's naturally slow." I stated. We continued to stare at it for a couple more minutes, more than I can usually manage standing in just one spot. The freakin' thing barely even made it a foot. "I wonder if it can even it use attacks..." I mumbled, proceeding to poke the normal type with a finger.

_"Slak-oth!"_ I was instantly surprised when the Pokemon used Scratch at us. It had moved way faster than it had been, though not quite fast enough. I moved out of the way fast enough to only get lightly scratched on my left arm. Standing back, I looked at the three red marks on my arm, which now had small blobs of blood beginning to seep through them. But instead of getting frustrated, I smiled.

"You my slow friend, have officially given me my first injury on my journey! You wanna' come with us?" Slakoth didn't react, but I commanded Mudkip to get ready to battle anyways, all the while I had a smallified Pokeball hiding inside of my first.

"Use Tackle!" Slakoth was knocked backwards, and slowly turned his head to look at us and tried to use Scratch. Mudkip easily dodged the attack. It was kind of strange that I wanted a Pokemon like this, being so slow and all, but I'd grown up with Slakoth and their evolutions around all the time, after all, they were my dad's favorite Pokemon. I guess I have a soft spot for them, especially Vigoroth, they're amazing.

"Now use Water Gun!" Mudkip's attack once again hit Slakoth, and this time I threw the now enlarged Poke Ball. And of course it worked, the thing was too lazy to try and escape. "Awesome! We caught our first Pokemon!"

"Mudkip!" I grinned and laughed a little, and we continued to walk, eating potato chips practically the whole way. We spent the night in the woods, and by about one the next afternoon the woods were thinning out. We were back on Route 104, heading towards Rustboro City. Slakoth was out of his Pokeball at the moment, he preferred to hand on my shoulder as to being on my head unlike Mudkip. Slakoth kind of sucked at battling so far, and I usually ended up switching him out with Mudkip, but that was alright for the time being. But when we got to Gym battles, that would be another story. Slakoth needed to learn more than Scratch, Encore, and Yawn (to be honest, Yawn is actually a very useful move).

I stopped by some bushes with a blue fruit on them, Oran berries. I picked about ten of them and placed them into an empty tupperware container, giving a couple, one at a time, to Slakoth for a snack, and even eating a couple myself for a healthy snack. They're actually pretty tasty, so don't go putting labels on me for eating them. Three left, I put the tupperware back into my bag to save some of the berries for Mudkip. The trail forked off at one point, so I went straight, and ended up at a shop.

"Dumb place for a flower shop..." I mumbled, walking inside for a look around. They must have some pretty loyals customers willing to come this far out of their way to buy flowers.

"Oh, hello!" A young woman with a slow, gentle voice who had been planting a flower looked up and greeted me after the ringing that came after opening the door. "Welcome to the Pretty Petal flower shop, may I help you?" She asked, brushing some dirt off of her gloves and standing fully erect.

"No, just looking around." I replied half heartedly, my eyes wandering from flowering and colored plant to flowering and colored plant. She nodded and continued with her planting. A little kid gave me a free little box of Leppa berries, but other than that the trip down that road had been pointless so I made my way back towards the fork in the road and instead headed east.

"So we meet again my lady." I froze in my tracks and turned around to see none other than rich kid Winston standing behind me. I groaned, invoking a curious look from Winston.

"What do you want _this_ time?"

"None other than to know the name of your beautiful self." He replied.

"Didn't we already go over this? As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure we battled over this and I won, and you agreed to not bother me again." I stuck a finger at blondy, just to make myself clear.

"But my lady-"

"NO Winston."

"If you would just battle me once more..." I sighed

"_Fiiine_. Slakoth, I choose you." I said in a depressing voice. _Might as well train my Pokemon if he's willing to battle._ Slakoth slowly made his way onto the ground.

"My precious Spheal, win me this!" The little ball of blue appeared, crying out in joy. "Powder Snow!" I didn't even bother to tell Slakoth to dodge it, he wouldn't have been able to anyways. But one thing I had learned while battling with Slakoth, is that even though he's not nearly as fast as I'd like him to be, he has super defense stats.

"Now use Water Gun!" Once again, Slakoth was hit with the attack. Then I began my favorite strategy to use with Slakoth, one that works even better if we attack first.

"Yawn!" Slakoth yawned, inducing the same in Spheal. A couple moves later, Spheal was asleep. Then a few strong but slow Scratches later, Spheal had fainted yet again.

"I must concede defeat." Winston told me after returning Spheal. "Please my lady, take this as my parting gift." Rich kid handed me a bag that jingled pleasantly, making me feel all jittery inside. After he'd gone, I ripped it open to reveal a good amount of money.

"Sweet!" I yelled aloud. I was too impatient to sit down and count it, so I instead stuffed the bag into my own bag still tied around my waist and headed off. After one more trainer battle and one more Pokedex entry I came across a dock that stretched across a good sized river. When my mom first told me that we were moving to Hoenn, she'd said that there was a lot of water here, just like there had been in Olivine. Most of it here was fresh water, though.

Making my way across the dock, two young girls, twins, came up to me.

"Hi trainer!" The one on the right said.

"Cute Pokemon!" The other said. It was kind of creepy the way they talked, walked right next to each other, and looked exactly alike.

"Uh, thanks?"

"I'm Gina!" The first one said.

"And I'm Mia!" Second.

"Will you double battle us?"

"Uh, sure?"

"Yay!" They yelled in high pitched voices together, turning towards each other and high fiving with both hands. Even creepier.

"Lotad, you're up!"

"Seedot, you too!" Their two Pokemon looked young and not nearly as strong as mine, so I guessed this would be an easy win. Slakoth slowly made his way down from my shoulder, and I released Mudkip from his Pokeball.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Ready!" They again said simultaneously.

"Alright, Mudkip, use Mud-Slap on the ground! Slakoth, use Yawn on Lotad and Seedot!"

"Run you two!" One of the twins called out. The Pokemon were unable to, slipping and falling on their faces into the mud. Yawn hit both of them successfully.

"Shoot!"

"Rats!" This was the first time the twins weren't in unison, saying these things at the same time and glancing at each other as they did so.

"Rats?" I mumbled to myself. _Who says rats these days?_ I asked myself. No one answered.

"Lotad, Astonish on Mudkip!"

"Seedot, Return on Slakoth! Hurry, before you fall asleep!" Again, they were out of sync.

"Counter with Water Gun and Scratch!" Both of my Pokemon managed to attack first, then, Seedot fell asleep.

"Wake up Seedot!"

"Lotad, use Absorb on Slakoth!"

"Mudkip, Tackle on Lotad!" Mudkip hit first once again, and now Lotad was struggling to keep from falling asleep.

"Slakoth, Scratch on Seedot, Mudkip, Tackle again on Lotad!" Both of their Pokemon fainted.

"This is all _your_ fault Mia! If you're stupid Seedot hadn't fallen asleep so quickly!"

"What are you talking about!? Seedot couldn't help it, and besides, _your_ Lotad should've attacked faster!" I rolled my eyes at their sudden arguing and just walked away, hoisting Slakoth back onto my shoulder and allowing Mudkip to swim alongside the dock, following us. Later on we battled a fisherman who had freakin' four of the worst Pokemon EVER. Magikarp. They kept using some ridiculous move called Splash that does absolutely nothing. So we won that (obviously), and walked until the sun began setting. And finally, just as I was getting ready to set up camp for the night, I saw the first streetlight of Rustboro City.

_Sunday, August 26_

**Finished. I know, nothing interesting happened in this chapter, but suck it up. Stories and books are always, well, almost always boring in the beginning. Besides, this isn't just some love story between Sapphire and Ruby, it's the story in between that too. Sapphire's journey through Hoenn. Read and review!**


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